Balance Bikes: Lekker’s Advice on Teaching Your Child To Ride A Bike

The Lekker Balance Bike is a kid’s bike, aimed at being a child’s very first ride. It is an incredibly stable Balance Bike, aimed at nurturing beginner riders from 2 – 5 years old.

It has thickset wheels and a cushy saddle and grips, coming in five different colours, with a 12” frame size. It consists of a lightweight aluminum handlebar, seat post (adjustable between 40 – 50cm), and wheels, weighing a light 3.25kg.

The bike can not only be seen as an ideal companion for your child in their important early stages of learning to ride, but it can also provide them with an opportunity to develop helpful physical and mental health habits, along with social ones too.

Read below to hear all there is to know not only about the Lekker Balance Bikes Range, but more so, the benefits associated with kids learning to ride at a young age, some helpful teaching tips, as well as important safety tips to keep the whole experience a positive one, as it should be.

The Importance of Learning to Ride

Riding a bike is an important skill to learn for every child. Not only because it is a fun and enjoyable activity, but because there are countless physical, as well as mental health benefits that come with riding. It is also a low-impact way to get outdoors with the whole family, and suits all fitness levels.

Riding at a young age in particular, can build confidence, and is a skill that will be with your child for the rest of their life. In not too long, it can also begin to be a great way to get around, regardless of where you may be living.

A Balance Bike can be seen as an ideal option for your child to learn to ride a bike, as children must develop their balance before moving onto a more regular pedal bike. They are an improvement from the more traditional training wheel method, allowing your child to gain confidence, skills and strength regarding balancing and moving on two wheels, to then be able to progress to a regular bike without the need for training wheels. More specifically, Balance Bikes enable children to use their arms and lift their legs when moving forward, so both their legs as well as upper body gain strength.

Health Benefits

Riding a bike provides countless mental and physical health benefits for your child. Active kids are happier and more social, and with the possibility of bike riding being a very social activity, means it is a great way to combine both benefits around socialising and physical activity.

Riding can also give your child a sense of freedom and independence, riding and moving forwards without assistance from anybody else. It is also a very easy and enjoyable way for them to reach the recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise per day. This helps them to lower their risk related to obesity as well as related diseases later on in life.

Tips for Teaching

Riding a bike for the first time, as well as trying to teach your child to ride, can be a challenging but rewarding experience. To ensure that your child is safe before starting to ride, there are a few very handy tips to become familiar with, to ensure their riding confidence can grow steadily with minimal setbacks, and they can be out on their own, with a smile on their face in no time.

The first thing to do, is to check that your child has a safe environment to start riding in, whether that means beginning on grass or a similar soft surface, to simply become familiar with sitting on the bike, without fear regarding harder surfaces. This is because sometimes, the initial fear is the first thing that needs to be overcome by the child before further progress can begin. It can also helpful to help your child onto the bike, and to really show them how to get started.

A handy thing to do is to incorporate riding into your daily, and family routine together. To ride to school, or to kindergarten, making it a very regular and familiar activity, as the more often they ride, the easier it will become. It can also be a great motivator for your child, if you make bike riding a very family orientated experience, and activity.

Going to the park and combining riding with other playing activities will help build a positive connection between child and bike. It is important to keep the experience positive, therefore it may be wise to head home when it is all going well. If your child does happen to have a fall, make sure to try and keep them encouraged and to not give up. It can be helpful to let them control their own progress, so they have a chance to develop the skill of riding a bike, with a sense of independence. Lastly, to make sure they always have a smile on their face and are always having fun.

Bike Safety Tips

There are a couple of key pointers to make sure of when looking out for your child on their new Balance Bike, such as helmets and having a correct seat height. When you’re buying a helmet for your child, make sure it fits properly, and it does not move around from side to side. If your child does have a fall, don’t forget to buy them a new helmet, as the helmet may no longer provide the protection it needs to. It is important to also make sure that the seat on the balance bike is adjusted properly, so your child can have the easiest time possible when learning, and is of course as comfortable as possible.

Conclusion

With your child fitted out with a brand new Lekker Kids Balance Bike, you may find it could be time to upgrade your own bike! If this is the case, and your tyres aren’t looking as slick as they could be, or there is a little too much squeak at the traffic lights, Lekker Bikes have a whole range of Premium Dutch Styled Cruiser and Commuter Bikes suited for all styles of riding.

Whether it be cruising along the bike path in Fitzroy, looking out for your young one as they balance along with a smile, or commuting to and from work each day in the CBD, Lekker Bikes have a whole range of Premium Dutch Style Ladies and Men’s Bikes waiting for a free-test ride. Feel free to come into either of our Melbourne, or Sydney branded shops, for a ride today.